The Montreal Canadiens struggled to generate offense against the Florida Panthers managing just a single goal on the power play.
GAME RECAP | Montreal Canadiens 1 vs Florida Panthers 4 | FINAL
Florida Panthers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4-1.Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
22 Cole Caufield - 14 Nick Suzuki - 20 Juraj Slafkovsky
91 Sean Monahan - 71 Jake Evans - 17 Josh Anderson
40 Joel Armia - 28 Christian Dvorak - 11 Brendan Gallagher
55 Michael Pezzetta - 13 Mitchell Stephens - 56 Jesse Ylonen
Defensemen
8 Mike Matheson - 58 David Savard
21 Kaiden Guhle - 52 Justin Barron
47 Jayden Struble - 54 Jordan Harris
Goaltenders
Starter: 34 Jake Allen
Alternate: 30 Cayden Primeau
Out of the lineup
Scratches: Gustav Lindstrom, Johnathan Kovacevic, Sam Montembeault
Injuries: Carey Price (knee), Chris Wideman (back), Kirby Dach (knee), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (lower body), Alex Newhook (lower body), Tanner Pearson (upper body)
Game Report
The Montreal Canadiens have faced two teams who are top-5 in the Eastern Conference in consecutive games. And against the Hurricanes and Panthers, the Habs have shown just how far they are from being a contender.
In Sunrise, the visitors struggled to generate offense throughout the game. After 40 minutes, the Habs generated a meagre eight shots on goal.
Cole Caufield scored the only Montreal goal on the power-play. At five-on-five, the Canadiens managed just three high-danger scoring chances in the entire game.
The Montreal video coaches secured a victory when they recommended that a power play goal by Carter Verhaeghe be challenged for offside. After review, the goal was disallowed.
Even with the goal waived, the Panthers power play went two for three in the game. Eetu Luostarinen scored twice with the man advantage. The Canadiens penalty kill is a mess, currently second worst in the NHL at a 71.9 per cent efficiency.
Jake delivered another strong performance in goal making 22 saves without getting goal support.
The Canadiens lost their sixth straight game to the Panthers and tenth of their last eleven games against Florida.
Game Statistics
Canadiens (15-15-5)
Shots: 19
Face-off %: 59.2
Power play: 1/2
Penalty minutes: 11
Hits: 13
Blocks:17
Panthers (22-12-2)
Shots: 26
Face-off %: 40.8
Power play: 2/3
Penalty minutes: 9
Hits: 15
Blocks: 12
Scoring Summary
Canadiens Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Caufield (9)-PPG
3rd period: --
OT: --
SO: --
Panthers Scorers
1st period: --
2nd period: Luostarinen (6)-PPG
3rd period: Luostarinen (7)-PPG, Bennett (6), Verhaeghe (18)-ENG
OT: --
SO: --
Goaltenders
MTL: Allen (L) 4-7-2
FLA: Stolarz (W) 5-3-1
Canadiens Players of the Game
Cole Caufield - Caufield scored the only goal for the Canadiens on the power play.
Video Highlights
Post-game Quotes
Martin St. Louis
"We had trouble executing defensively on puck recoveries and we spent more time in our zone. The Panthers don't give much space. We were sending the puck to the back of their zone, but we were making changes at the same time. It's difficult to get the puck back when there is only one player on the forecheck."
Up Next
The Canadiens remain in Florida for a date with the Tampa Bay Lightning on New Year's Eve.
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